Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Robosapien V2 rewiring

Some time ago I found this old but still very cool power toy.
And as a gift I wanted for my son...and a bit for myself.
I got it second hand and this was clear, it had some cracks and heavy nicotine odor...
But it worked and was complete with manual book and no battery leaking damage.

Soon I did notice some uncontrollable movements and battery drains.
When searching the internet of any tricks, hacks and modifications I found something disappointing.
The wires running through the legs are of very bad quality, more V2 models have it!
Somehow the other wires are fine, but the leg ones are not...

A foot connector cable

Total break down!

Here are some examples of how bad they become. To the point of causing short circuit.

We (me and son) had a clear to do, rewire the legs.

Gathering information

Lucky we were one of many that committed to this job, as is a common problem.

So first taking apart the robot is a challenge, it covers are very fragile and so both upper leg parts are lost and now looking for a 3D model replacement.

Second point is that the arms can fall off after removing the chest covers (unlike with the V1 model).

Once the covers are gone and the wires are untangled, as they cross halve way the body.

Write down how all the wires fit in to place.

All the info can be found on the internet (see references), but it saves time to already have it.

Then remove the legs from the body.

We did not have the same size cables as we used the from an old computer PSU.

They come in many colors and long size, remember not making the length to long (as they might jam once the covers are back) OR short!!

The foot board

Also we needed to recycle the plugs so had to carefully take them apart and replace them with the new wires.

Unfortunately at the foot(s) base the wires are soldered thus taking more time.

Left Foot Connector

Besides time consumption, the job did not take more than a day (thanks to my little helper!).

Right Foot Connector

Foot with still old wires

the Motor Board

Finally the wires are fixed and everything is working again.

References:

Here are a few websites that helped me or can be helpful.

Very useful -> For info on the Mainboard, it also have links to other internal parts.